The 9 Very Best Smart Home-Gym Machines

Versatility: strength workouts, cycling, running, yoga, stretching, cardio | Subscription cost: $24/month with no pre-existing Peloton membership. No additional cost for paying Peloton members / Accessories: None included with base package; dumbbells and mats available with other Guide bundles

While it’s hard to pick one “best” piece of smart home-gym equipment, the Peloton Guide comes closest for its affordability, access to a wide variety of guided workouts, and size. It’s not a bulky machine — it’s a camera that hooks up to a monitor or TV. (It requires a power outlet, and you navigate the Guide with the included remote.) It tracks your movements while you take Peloton classes, like weight training, yoga, or cycling (you can follow along with any Peloton class on the Guide), and provides detailed feedback on each session you take — like how many sets you completed and what muscle groups you activated.

After testing the Guide for a month of mainly strength and weight-training workouts, I found the tracking feature to be much more effective than I expected. The screen displays a half-circle meter that fills only when you hold a pose or do a rep. In this way, the Guide encourages you to commit to each rep and set within the workout. I found that reinforcement much more encouraging than following along with a YouTube workout on my own.

People who are familiar with Peloton’s network of classes and instructors will find the Guide a handy companion. It offers metric tracking and syncing with the Peloton app, just like it does with the Peloton Bike and Tread. The Guide, like other Peloton classes, replicated being in an in-person class, too, by displaying small icons of the other members who are currently taking that class or session. Aparna Surapaneni, a home-fitness enthusiast based in Houston, Texas, has used her Peloton bike since 2017, but thinks the best part about the experience is the app and the Peloton ecosystem. “Even if you don’t have a Peloton bike, the app is kind of a no-brainer,” Surapaneni says. “They’ve hired a broad range of instructors, even from physical body types. Before, fitness instructors all looked one specific way.”

The Guide is a bit of an anomaly in this roundup, since it’s not really a fitness machine. But at $295, it’s the least expensive device on this list, yet it offers an expansive variety of workouts without the need for bulky equipment. For those reasons, and its ability to connect to the larger Peloton network, we think it’s the best overall device for at-home workouts.